Akron City Council Meeting, 1972

Photograph of an overflowing Akron City Council meeting, held days after the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Saul E. Link, Jr. by Akron Detective John Blouir. The meeting was described as chaotic, as protesters "stood on desks and railings" in the chambers while "hundreds more milled around outside." The shooting caused protests, rioting, and looting downtown, as well as criticism of Mayor John Ballard, who suspended the detective with pay. During this meeting, the Council passed a resolution to hold a special committee to investigate the shooting, a decision Mayor Ballard disagreed with.

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Photograph of an overflowing Akron City Council meeting, held days after the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Saul E. Link, Jr. by Akron Detective John Blouir. The meeting was described as chaotic, as protesters "stood on desks and railings" in the chambers while "hundreds more milled around outside." The shooting caused protests, rioting, and looting downtown, as well as criticism of Mayor John Ballard, who suspended the detective with pay. During this meeting, the Council passed a resolution to hold a special committee to investigate the shooting, a decision Mayor Ballard disagreed with.

This collection includes photographs of Akron and Summit County, Ohio, selected from the archives of the Akron Beacon Journal and contributed through a partnership between the Akron Beacon Journal and the Akron-Summit County Public Library. Images may include crop marks, blacking, opaquing, painting, retouching and other enhancements made prior to publication, including markings that may obscure or revise original elements of the photographs. These markings and enhancements have been left intact intentionally.